Digital Futures: Strategies for the Information Age

The strategic issues in realizing a digital future for libraries in the information age are very complex. With the rapid expansion of the Internet and electronic communication media, the work of information gathering, storage, and transmission is presenting fresh challenges to all those responsible for preserving and making accessible the information needs and cultural memory of society. "Digital Futures: Strategies for the Information Age" looks at how librarians and other information workers can develop the means to locate the electronic resources most relevant to the needs of their users, integrate these resources into the infrastructure of their institutions, manage the necessary technology, and anticipate future trends in the digital age. The text is relevant to the needs of libraries and information organizations of all types - educational, public, and corporate - and includes guidance on: digital futures in current contexts; why digitize?; developing collections in the digital world; the economic factors; resource discovery, description and use; developing and designing systems for sharing digital resources; portals and personalization: mechanisms for end-user access; preservation; digital librarians: new roles for the information age; and digital futures. A full bibliography is provided, together with a helpful glossary. This is an indispensable guide for all information managers and archivists needing to keep abreast of developments in communications technologies, manage change in the library environment, and implement new modes and methods of resource management. Others in the information and culture world, such as museum curators, media professionals and web content providers will also find it essential reading, as will students of digital culture on library and information studies and other courses.